A new Start
by Simply one Hell of a writer2
Summary: I had an idea to write a story on the boy's point of view I hope you like it I know I liked trying to court Gray in the game.
1. Prolouge

Today was the start of a new life. I had everything packed up to leave. I had all my tools and equipment I would use to build a brand new forge in my new home. I had one last meal with my grandpa before I left for Forget-Me-Not Valley.

Our meal together was silent. Neither one of us talked to each other we just looked at our bowls of rice. When the silence got too much for me I got up to leave.

"Gray wait!" Grandpa exclaimed trying to get me to stay. I had enough of him ordering me around. I was twenty-six I was old enough to move out on my own and find my own path. I turned around letting him say one last thing before I went out to my horse drawn carriage.

"I just wanted you to take care of yourself out there. Another thing I should tell you about are the women. They are a totally different animal all together. When you find a girl who'll treat you the way you want to be treated you better treat her the same way." He gave me a hard stare. I blushed hard. There were plenty of women in mineral town I was just not interested in any of them.

"Thanks grandpa but I think I can figure that out myself." I said leaving to ready my horse. I couldn't take it anymore I had to leave. As My horse was about to leave my grandpa came out of our house.

"Don't forget to write is the last thing I can say good luck." I smiled back and made the horse go.

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 **This is the prologue I'll get to the actual story in the next chapters I just wanted to show you what Gray would look like if he left and struck out on his own. I hope you like it :)**


	2. Forget Me not Party

**Forget Me Not Party**

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It took me two hours to get to Forget-Me–Not Valley. It was a beautiful place though. Everyone seemed welcoming. They even had a party for my arrival at the local in. Before I could get too indulged in the food and drink the mayor of Mineral town pulled me aside.

"You know it's very nice of you Gray to come and live here but wouldn't you be better off at Mineral town with your Grandpa?" I gave the man a scowl. I was no longer an apprentice to my grandfather. It was time I grew up. I decided to choose my words carefully.

"My grandfather is better off without me. I've finished my apprenticeship a year ago. I have all my gear up in my room I just have to make my blacksmithing shop. Gotz can help me with that. There's a mine here with plenty of ores that can do the job.

I walked away from the man, grabbed a beer out of the bowl of ice and found a corner where no one seemed to be gathered. Yes, this was a welcome party for him, and yes these people were all friendly, this was just not his scene. I was that guy who would curl up with a good horror book with heavy metal blaring in the background as you come up to the scariest part.

I was just about halfway through my can of beer when a blond takes the beer out of his hand and looks at him. I looked at the girl and frowned. He may not have drink that often, but it was rude to him to take it away from him.

"Hey, I was drinking that." She smiled at me teasingly.

"And now you're not. It's a party for you, the least you can do is talk to people." I snatched the beer can out of her small hands. She had long blonde hair that went all the way to her waist. Her small lips curled down into a frown again. My brow furrowed.

"I don't do parties and I especially don't do people." I took a swig of my beer finishing it. I threw the can in the trash. I marched up the stairs at the inn and into the room I would be staying in until Gotz could finish my black smith shop and slammed the door behind me. I took out my IPod from my duffle bag, and Stephen King's ' _The shining_ ' and pressed play. Listening to mostly screaming as Danny meets the two dead girls, beckoning him to play with them.


	3. A stack of Orders

A stack of Orders

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Three days later Gotz had finished the black smith shop. I after meeting everyone unwillingly of course set course for my new future. Of course I was busy the first day that I was in business. I was determined to be just as good my grandfather is.

When I had left my grandfather's shop it wasn't on good terms but I at least could make the orders as well as he could. I got to my shop around five in the morning to check on the forge making sure that the fire was still burning. I chastised myself for not getting any extra ores from the town's mine just in case I got a forgetful customer. I wasn't going to force my customers to go out and mine their own ores like my grandfather did. I went to the box in the corner and began unpacking all the things I would need to do this job.

At seven I heard the bell tingle. I looked up to see a blonde girl in green overalls heading toward the front desk. She had an exhausted look on her face. It wasn't like she was asleep it was more like she was tired of someone telling her what to do.

"I'm not open yet but thank you for making sure the bell on my door works." The corners of her mouth bent down into a frown and her eyebrows knit together. It looked unnatural on her almost like her face would light up if you made her laugh. I shook my head banishing those thoughts out of my mind.

"I'm sorry I wasn't sure when you're hours were. You never put it on the town's bulletin board." The town's bulletin board they had one of those here? In mineral town they had a bulletin board that told you when the specific holidays were if you weren't paying attention to your own home calendar.

"Do you know where I have to go to post on this bulletin board? I was just going to hang a sign on my window what my hours were I didn't know." She smiled at him the edges of her eyes crinkled. I had to look away from her. She was too cheery for this early in the morning.

"You can do that too I suppose but if you want to post to the bulletin board it's in the inn right behind the counter. I'm new around here too. I've only been here a week." That's a week longer than I've been here. I looked at her. She was small. Smaller than most girls. Her overalls and gloves were caked with mud. What does she do here? Before I could ask she answered for me.

"I somehow got stuck with this farm. It looked like a nice place in the ads but when I really got here I noticed it was a dump. I've been sticking it out ever since." Humph sounds just like his friend Pete from Mineral Town. He too had inherited that rundown farm. I looked at the girl again this time with fascination. I must say I was completely awed at her. For working on a farm all by herself.

"It must get lonely working on the farm all by yourself." She nodded.

"Oh yes, it does. There's plenty of things to do around here though. One of which I've come here for. I wouldn't mind selling to you every once in a while if I have surplus supplies you need." I turned away. I couldn't pay her even if I did accept her offer. I was also a little upset that she would do my job for me. I thought for a moment.

"Unfortunately I can't accept your offer. As you can see I literally just started putting my shop together so I have no money to pay you with. I'm sorry." This didn't seem to deter her smile though.

"Alright then, let me be your first customer. I already have the tool and ore I want for an upgrade. She put her rucksack on the table with an audible thunk. What did she put in there rocks. She dug in the bag and produced a silver ore and a regular hammer. I was amazed she could handle an upgrade. Not only was the upgrade expensive but the metal always seemed to make a tool a little heavier than when it started. I wasn't going to tell that to this newbie though. I want to see how she handled the thing after I was finished.

I smiled a little cat smile at her. Let's see which one of us will break first shall we. "That'll be two thousand gold. She dished out the money and then gathered up her belongings. She smiled at me again.

"My name's Claire by the way I'll see you around." And with that she was gone. I put her things aside and went to work making my closed and open sign. I turned the sign to closed and went back to setting up my shop. About two hours later I turned the sign to open and I swear to god there was a swarm of people that needed all sort of things fixed. All these orders will take me a month to fill. I wasn't deterred though I was now determined to be a great black smith.

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 **I hope this isn't that bad.**


	4. Hand-me-downs and flowers

I wiped my brow as I observed my handy work. I had finished fixing Gotz's axe. He came to visit last Monday. I am missed in Mineral town. Somewhere in my heart there were some people who I wouldn't mind seeing.

Grandpa Calls once a week to see how I'm getting along. I'm getting along just fine. I've made it work so far. The rent at the hotel I'm staying at is a little steep, but like Mineral town it's a small town and the townies seem to look out for one another. It's comforting to know that I've been here a month and I'm starting to make an impression on the town.

The bell rang as Gotz came in. He was a tall man with a crew cut brown hair and goatee. He looked determined to get back to work. He put his hands on the side of his white tank top. "Is my axe finished yet?" He asked in his booming baritone voice.

"Just finished it. That'll be three hundred gold coins." Gotz growled at the price and dug into his money pouch pulling out the amount and then some. As I counted the coins he turned to leave.

"Wait you paid me too much." I called after him. He turned around in the door way and smiled.

"Think of it as a tip kiddo keep up the good work." He waved to me as he slipped out and Vesta came in. She had upgraded her hoe a couple of days ago. She was a big woman a woman who knew how to cook.

"is my hoe finished?" she asked, her voice must have beaten Gotz's in decibels. I had to resist the urge to shoot my hands up to my ears. I went around back to where I kept my tools to cool. I had Gotz build a cooling rack for me as soon as I had the money for it.

I checked the rack for Vesta's name. When I found it I made sure to give it to her right away.

"Here you go that'll be two hundred gold. Vesta smiled at me and dug into her purse and gave me the exact amount. I put this money in the cash register. I was busy working on my next tool that was for Ceilia when the bell rang. I looked up and saw that Claire had come in.

She was wearing the ugliest shirt I had ever seen. It was handmade and seemed to be made out of a mishmash of different fabrics. There was a giant gold C in the middle of it. I looked at her for a moment before bursting out laughing.

When I got my laughter under control I asked her "did you lose a bet or something." She shook her head.

"No more like my aunt was cleaning out and found something of my sister's but it doesn't fit her anymore so he gave it to me." My eye brows curved up.

"you have siblings?" I asked sounding dumb.

"yes I have an older brother and an older sister who has a baby. I'll go see them for the holidays. I need to spoil my new nephew before I come back. What about you? Do you have any siblings?" Claire asked she had a sly smile on her pretty pink lips. A half laugh escaped my throat when I saw that joking smile.

I sat against the counter. "Unfortunately I was an only child. My parents died in a horrible accident when I was young. My grandfather raised me." I said gruffly. Hearing these words out loud made my gut twist in a bad way. It almost made me regret my decision to make it on my own; almost. Claire's face dropped when I said those words.

"I am so sorry." She put her bag down and rummaged through it. "Well here is your delivery mister I had extra gold ore and extra silver ore. One more thing, when you are finished for the day come to my place, I want to show you this cool place I found." She winked at me and left.

I didn't officially finish the day until seven that night. It took me forever to finish everyone's orders but I did it all the same. When I was finished I didn't want to go see Claire, I wanted to go home, flop on my bed at the hotel and fall asleep. I moved my feet toward her farm as tired as I was.

She was waiting outside of her home, tapping her foot and sporting something between horribly kept together anger and a snort of laughter. There was a smile trying to split her face in half.

"You're late!" She said when I was close enough for her to shout at me. This seemed to be her undoing as she burst into laughter.

"How am I late? I just got off work, what on earth do you find so funny?" I asked seeing as she was now doubling over with laughter. She put a finger up in the air to give her a minute of breathing room. When she got her laughter down to a controlled laughter she looked at me. The stars in the darkened sky seemed to be reflected in her eyes. It was like her eyes reflected a part of her.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "So where is this cool place you were talking about earlier today?" She didn't respond in words, just another sly smile. She took my hand led me off her land. She didn't say where we were going the whole time. We walked past Vesta's farm. It was a bigger version of Claire's farm with rows and rows of eggplant. There were two houses on the farm, one for Vesta and her shop and one for Marlin, Vesta's apprentice.

Claire led me to the mine. I used to come here all the time when I visited the mines in both Forget-Me-Not valley and Mineral town. It was and still is a peaceful place for me. Now that I was on my own; I haven't been able to go out and mine for my own ores. For the past month Claire had been coming around the store to give me her extra spoils.

She led me to a set of stairs. She went through her pack and took out a gas lamp. She lit it, then led me down a set of stone steps. She went over to a strangely formed rock and placed her lamp on the rock. I tripped on the third to last step and rolled right down the last three steps and then fell right on top of Claire. I raised myself up, my palm was on something soft. I squeezed it twice trying to figure out what this soft thing was. I was blindsided by a punch to my face.

"oww! What was that for?" I yelled holding my left eye, where Claire had punched me.

"For being a jerk!" Claire said holding her folded arms over her chest. I turned as re tomato. I-I hadn't meant to…I mean I would never intentionally...I had just touched a woman's boob! I felt so ashamed of myself in my life.

"Are you just going to sit there and look at me like I'm a ghost, or are you going to apologize?" she asked. I blushed even brighter in the dim light.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to…you know." I said looking away from her. She got up and dusted herself off.

"I came here to show you something cool that I found while I was mining for ore but since you do not want to be a gentleman about it I will not show you." She said getting up and taking her lamp in her left hand. I got up and backed away waving my hands in front of me protectively.

"I really didn't mean to I promise. Please show me what you found." She replaced the lamp and went over to a patch of dirt. She dug in the ground until she brought a plant out of the ground.

"What's a flower doing down in a place like this?"

"It is not a flower it's a black grass, it only grows in the mines." I smiled at her as she offered it to me.

"That is a weird place for a plant to grow." She picked up her lamp again and led me out of the cave. We walked together back to the inn. We didn't talk for there was nothing to talk about. She didn't say it but I could see in her eyes she was still mad at me for touching her breast.

"I will see you in the morning." She said curtly. She turned around and left me on the doorstep another apology on the tip of my toungue.


	5. A New Friend

It took a long time for Claire to forgive me but she did. I hadn't, honestly I hadn't meant to touch her breasts. That was a very clumsy move on my part. I had chased her down every day after I got off work just to apologize. I had missed her smile and easy laugh. It was like if I didn't hear her laugh I would be sad all day. What had happened to me? I had never cared this much about another person's laugh and smile.

I was walking back to the inn after a long day of work when I noticed a new person looking at the in. from the silhouette of the person's body it was definitely a female. What was she doing here? There hadn't been any news from the mayor talking about a new resident who could this person be. When she heard me approaching she whirled around to face me.

She was a tall woman with long black hair tied into a bun, pieces of hair sticking out here and there. She wore a white head band like Rick from mineral town but this girl didn't look anything like his sister Popouri.

* * *

"Excuse me I must have gotten lost somewhere on my walk and it's getting late do you know how expensive it is to stay at the inn?" The woman had a firm voice for being lost. I expected that she would have a quiver of fear. She just looked at me with a concerned look.

"It's slightly more than the usual inn but it isn't that bad. Where are you from?" I ventured to ask. I'm usually not one to talk to random people.

Hm? Oh I'm from a town called Echo Village it's not far or at least I hope it's not that far from here." We entered the inn, the lights bathing us in a warm yellow glow. Ruby smiled at the both of us.

"Who's your friend Gray?" Ruby asked she was a nice lady I liked talking to her. Ruby was the best cook in town. She was better than Ann but don't tell Anne she wouldn't like that. There was a small radio on the counter of the inn check in it was playing an odd techno song I had not heard before. I hadn't even asked the young woman what her name was I was so embarrassed. I looked at her about to ask.

She bowed to Ruby and smiled. "My name is Iroha do you have a vacant room?" She said. Ruby smiled pleasantly at her and reached for a key. Here you go it's right next to your Gray. I hope you stick around to see the sights. This may be a small town but it's still a nice town there's a fishing tournament coming up tomorrow at noon." Iroha took the key and held it to her chest.

"I'm sorry but I've never really been inserted in anything other than smithing." I was shocked there was someone else who was just as passionate about black smithing as myself and Grandpa. Before I knew it I was standing in the doorway of her room. She looked at me amused.

"Did you want to say something?" I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"I just wanted to say that I've never met anyone who liked to do black smithing like I do." Her lips curved into a smile. I sat on one of the two twin beds looking around at a mirror image of mine and Kai's room. There were three beds, a picture of a boat caught in a storm and one picture of a cow grazing in a field of sunflowers. I may be no farmer but I'm sure Claire would agree that cows would be much happier in a field of green grass than a field of sunflowers.

"Are you the black smith here?" Iroha asked me, I looked away from the cow pictured and looked at her.

"Yes, I'm the new black smith. I left my old home in Mineral town and moved here. I haven't lived here long. Just long enough to show you around tomorrow if you wish." She smiled at me again. Her smile lit up her eyes just the way Claire's did when she smiled.

"I'd love that." I bowed and said my good nights to Irhoa.

The next day I went to my shop early to put a sign on my door that I would be out today and would be closed all day. I then went to Iroha's room and knocked on the door. A minute later she opened the door smiling again.

* * *

"Shall we get going then?" I asked, I'm not normally the touchy feely type like Kai is but when Iroha linked her arm around my own arm I didn't seem to mind. We went outside and I started us on our tour of the town with the main road. I pointed out various villager houses and some of my favorite spots I liked to visit on my days off. We ended in the tour in the mines. I noticed that there were now four doorways into the mines. Claire and Carter must be hard at work.

Iroha looked around the mine with a pleased look. I pointed over to Carter and Flora. "These two are Carter and Flora, they are archaeologists working in the mines looking for ancient artifacts." Iroha's eyes doubled in size. She immediately went up to them and shook both their hands.

"That is fantastic have you found anything?" Flora pushed her glasses higher up on her face.

"Actually we have a few things that we have found. It's Claire who has found the most artifacts around here." Flora's soft voice echoed around the cavernous mine.

After talking to Carter for a few more minutes we exited the cave where we came upon Claire. She was huffing and puffing as if she had been running around all day.

"I…. I…. finally found you…." She put her hands on both thighs and wheezed trying to catch her breath. When she did catch her breath she looked at me again. She straightened and this time she noticed Iroha. Maybe it was just a trick of the light but I thought some of the sparkle in her eyes that were usually there seemed to fade. "Oh you're busy. I'm sorry I shouldn't have disturbed you two." She bowed to Iroha. "It was nice to meet you my name is Claire."

"My name is Iroha, Gray was just showing me out of town It's nice to meet you." She nodded, bowed one more time to us and left. I felt a rebuff from her. Was it something I did? Why did she act so strange? Girls are so weird. I escorted Iroha out of town all the way to the sign that pointed in different directions to other towns.

"thank you very much for your kindness Gray I will have to come back here and visit. If you ever find yourself lost in Echo Village I will do the same kindness for you." She turned on her heel and was gone. I trudged back to the inn where Kai and Cliff were already relaxing in the room. I sat down on my bed. I laid down on the bed and sighed.

"Where have you been all day?" Kai asked ask if noticing my presence for the first time.

"I was showing a girl around the town. She had gotten lost on her way home and stayed in the room next to ours last night and today I showed her out of town."

"Was this girl hot?" Kai asked. I thought for a moment. I wasn't sure if this was one of Kai's traps. To him anything that had lady parts and could breathe was hot. I shrugged my shoulders. Kai heaved a sigh. "you two are hopeless. How are you going to get married and have kids one day if you don't notice if the girl you're courting is hot or not." I chuckled.

"Never cared about that stuff. Doesn't matter to me, my future wife just has to be kind and a hard worker." I shifted my arm so it was under my head and I looked up at the ceiling. "Something odd just happened." This time Cliff looked over at me.

* * *

"Yeah?" Kai asked.

"When I as showing Iroha out of town Claire came up to us and she was about to say something but then she noticed Iroha and just left. I don't get it she's not one to go quiet like that. Did I do something wrong?" I asked. Kai was quiet for a long time.

"how close was Iroha to you?" What did that matter?

"She was relatively close why?"

"Do you think Claire might have mistaken Iroha for someone close to you?" I flicked my wrist dismissing the thought.

"That's just silly. How could I like someone for more than just a friend when I just met the girl last night?" Kai shook his head.

"that's not what I said dude. I asked if you thought form Claire's point of view? She might have thought that girl you were so nicely showing around was more than a friend? If you don't believe me go, ask her yourself." I still thought that sill and I would have to explain all this to Claire in the morning. I fell into an uneasy sleep.

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 ** _Sorry this chapter is so long I just got carried away I hope you guys enjoy this :)_**


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